Mice bait demand has been exceeding supply but production is ramping up

However, Animal Control Technologies (ACTA) welcomed a shipping consignment of zinc phosphide from India on Wednesday, enabling them to ramp-up production of Mouse Off.

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ACTA managing director Linton Staples said the shipment was ordered in January but was delayed due to COVID-19 complications and then indirectly by the ship block in the Suez Canal. It is the first of several shipping consignments due to arrive.

"We went into this plague with more reserves than we have ever had going into one before," Mr Staples said.

"But as we went into April, expected supplies of chemical had not arrived and we had to fill the gap with four air consignments.

"Logistically it was very challenging, you're talking about transporting large quantities of dangerous chemical by air and there aren't many cargo planes with freight space available."

Another challenge was the need to rapidly scale-up grain sterilisation.

"Using sterilized grain in baits is crucial to prevent weed propagation," Mr Staples said.

"Sterilisation is now working to capacity and we have stockpiled sterilised grain while shortages of chemicals have limited our production temporarily."

Production was intermittently halted for close to two weeks and Mr Staples said they had a backlog of orders.

"We're acutely conscious of the need to get as much bait out there as quickly as we can, we're in six day per week production at the moment," he said.

How early in the season the mice plague had started also complicated the supply chain.

"The demand has occurred two months earlier than what is usually experienced," Mr Staples said.

The mice have now spread beyond the North West and Central West regions, with higher than normal numbers reported from the cold climates of Walcha to the coast.

While farmers in the state's grain-belt were fighting the pest during their winter sowing season. In the Riverina, Elders Deniliquin farm supplies manager Tony Scoullar said mouse bait demand had outstripped supply for the last two weeks and they had a large backlog of orders.

"Everybody wants to put it out while they're sowing," Mr Scoullar said, noting he was hopeful he would receive more bait supplies this week.

IK Caldwell Corowa agronomist Andrew Bell said growers around Jerilderie and Oaklands were some of the worst effected in his area, however, he had heard no reports of damage to canola, which was just emerging.

"It's more of a problem in last year's barley paddocks, where there's grain on the ground from last year's harvest," he said.

While, Ricegrowers Association president Rob Massina said although some mice damage had been seen in rice crops, the impact had so far been minimal.

"I wouldn't want to leave it on the paddock for much longer though," he said.

NSW Farmers' president James Jackson is among those calling on the state government to help producers combat the problem.

"We would certainly support some sort of grant program to help subsidise the costs of baiting and alike," Mr Jackson said.

"I think the government have been a bit flat footed with this issue and were just crossing their fingers in the hopes it would go away but it hasn't."

Mr Jackson said it was not too late for the government to implement some support measures.

"Research has shown the mice will not disappear until all of the feed runs out and I think it is fair to say we are a long way from that happening," he said.

The Land contacted NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall for comment.

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